Rural Student Services

If you’re a student attending UAF, you should definitely stop into RSS and check it out! RSS stands for Rural Student Services and is open to everyone! RSS is located on the 2nd floor of the Brooks Building. The advisors at RSS are effective and very helpful. They can assist students with academic requirements, registration for classes, finding financial aid, explaining housing options, declaring a major, and career exploration. While connecting prospective students and families of rural communities to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, it is a great place where you’re able to exercise and practice traditions on campus, as well as participate in other activities and programs. There is almost always food in the RSS Gathering Room from meetings and potlucks; everyone knows college students love free food!

Rural Student Services is a very welcoming and comfortable place. It’s somewhere you can find me almost every day during the week for printing, tutoring, getting on a computer to check my email, or lounging till my next class starts.

RSS hosts Positive Connection Nights, which occur once a month or so with activities and dinner. The InuYupiaq dance group (includes Inupiaq and Yupik dances) practice on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Gathering Room. Last, but not least, a variety of club/group meetings are held in the Gathering Room (for example: AISES, ANSEP, NABL, ANESA, FNA, etc.). For more information about these, you can check out their Facebook page – Rural Student Services, view their homepage at www.uaf.edu/ruralss, or shoot them an email at uaf-rss@alaska.edu

Student Blog Series: How UAF is different than my high school experience Pt. 1

     I never realized how college might look to someone still in high school after attending UAF for four years, until one visiting student asked if there was any bullying on campus by other students. This question left me stunned, to think that someone going to college would still be worried about being bullied. I know my experience as a high school student isn’t the same as everyone else’s but you shouldn’t be worried about those experiences transferring to college. The main reason why you are attending college is to receive a degree in your field of interest to pursue a career of your choice, and, if someone is trying to pick on you for whatever reason,they are just wasting their time here. If you feel like you are being bullied by anyone, typically it is handled in one of two ways: 1. Social Coercion, 2. You RA or another Authority.

   
    Social Coercion is probably the most powerful of the two solutions, because the effect that it has on individuals is strong enough to change their perception of what they are doing and how they might change it. In my dorm, freshman year, I don’t remember any cases of bullying. Besides the two guys that bullied each other (come to find out later that they were good friends that liked to pick on each other). If there was a bully I would imagine they would have a hard time making friends or being accepted by different groups. When someone realizes that what they are doing is not being generally accepted, the human need of interaction should kick in enough to change their socialization from hostile to friendly. When you are thrown in with 400 or so students you don’t know, the trend is that you will be friendly and a little more open when meeting new people.
   
    An RA or another authority is important as well, especially if it is a larger issue than what I have been talking about. If there is someone harassing you constantly and nothing is changing, go see the RA for your floor and they should help you out. Sometimes it takes someone with the authority of ruining their stay in the dorms to get them to knock it off. With our own campus police it is even more safer to be a student on campus and to keep you focused on your studies rather than someone who is bullying you.

Tune in next week for Pt. 2 of the series in regards to studying!

Yurapiartukut

Yurapiartukut is Yup’ik  for “We genuinely dance” and as a part of UAF’s Inu-Yupiaq dance group, I am willing to vouch that for our group, the statement is undeniably true. No matter where we come from, whether it is Kotzebue, Chevak, or Atlanta Georgia, there is a part in all of us that cannot deny the song and dance of the north.

Maybe it sounds crazy, a guy from the heart of the south moved to Alaska to dance to a bunch of traditional Eskimo music, but all in all, it is one of the few things that keep me sane through not just the harsh Fairbanks winter, but the entire year. Maybe if I break it down some you might understand how we function and why.

Inu-Yupiaq is a UAF club that holds practices twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, in the Brooks building. Our name is a portmanteau of both Inupiaq and Yupiaq (an un-contracted version of Yup’ik,) both of which, if you are unfamiliar, are adjacent coastal native groups which are closely linked in many ways, most noticeably a similar language and diet along with the traditional form of song, accompanied by drumming and dancing. Because we focus on the duality of the region, we spend our time dancing songs from both of the areas. 

Duality is evident in almost all aspects of our dances. It drains from the Yup’ik and Inupiaq belief that life is made up of two polar aspects. Day and night, good and bad, hungry or full, the list goes on and on. That is what makes life. In our dances you can see that most motions are repeated on both sides of the body, the left and the right. In Inupiaq songs the verse is typically sung once calmly and without drums, while the second singing of the verse is sung powerfully and is accompanied by drums.  Symmetry in life as a whole is a powerful notion.

Many of us like to dance in a very traditional style. We like our songs with spirit.  There is a clear synergy created by the drumming and singing in combination of our dancing spirit. Many of us enjoy watching and learning from other dancers, especially elders as much as we enjoy dancing ourselves. We push each other to learn and to dance harder.  With that being said, rarely do we push each other to do such things by verbal communication. Typically it is a follow the leader situation, many times the first verse of a song will go un-danced if people are feeling shy, but once one or two people stand to dance many follow.

Overall, people have a desire to be a part of something, to be a part of a family, whether the family is made of a band of musicians or circus performers or cake bakers or book readers, that part doesn’t matter. But for me, the chance to express myself in such a traditional form, something that feels so natural and enjoyable while I am surrounded by friends who encourage me is beyond awesome.

So if you feel so inclined, if you feel that this might be an interesting experience or that you might enjoy dancing some songs that aren’t much harder than the Macarena (and pretty similar in some ways) please come and visit us in the Brooks building, 7-9 PM on Wednesdays and 6-8 PM on Saturdays. We will greet you with open arms, so don’t be too shy!

Have an Interest? Join the Club!

Have you ever walked through a crowd and suddenly felt the sudden urge to dance? Do you ever find yourself schooling everyone else on the dance floor? Perhaps you never have, but today is the day you are going to start. Welcome to the UAF Dance Team, one of my personal favorites in the long, awesome list of student organizations.

Student Organizations are a fantastic way to get involved at UAF. If you have an interest outside (or even inside) of your academics, chances are there is another student with the same interest. There are over 150 active student organizations, ranging everywhere from ‘Alaska Gravity Works’ (they learn how to juggle!) all the way to ‘Ye Olde Doctor Who Society’ (they just watch the best show on television, and relax!). The subjects range from academic societies, like ‘Biomedical Engineering Society’ and ‘Russian Language Club’, to social groups, like ‘Gay-Straight Alliance’ and ‘Occupy Fairbanks.’ To help you learn about all of them, there is a Student Organization Fair on February 19^th and 20^th in the Wood Center. From 11am through 2pm on these days, you will have plenty of time to search for the perfect club!

Student Organization: The Alaska Alpine Club

If for some reason none of these groups fits your fancy, there is any easy fix: start your own! Starting a new Student Organization is as easy as filling out a form. All you need are 10 signatures from people who would support the club, such as other students, staff, and/or faculty. From there, you can hold meetings at UAF, advertise, and let your organization’s dreams run wild.

Student Organization: The Inu-Yupiaq Dance Group

For me, that organization turned out to be the UAF Dance Team. Meeting weekly, we choreograph and perform many different dance types, whatever we all desire. We have performed hip-hop, jazz, and even Middle Eastern dance. We take as many opportunities to perform as we can. Some of us have been dancing for years, some of us just started out! Luckily, we get to move at our own pace, helping each other and learning as we go. Together, we grow as dancers, and just so happen to have tons of entertainment along the way. Our objective is to ‘promote all kinds of dancing, cultural expression, and leadership.’

This is my student organization. What is yours? http://www.uaf.edu/woodcenter/leadership/organizations/

Psych in Action!

Psychology in ACTION!!!!!!!!

This semester I am in an experimental class through the Psychology department taught by Professor Janet Schichnes, the department faculty adviser. The class is called Psychology in Action; An Introduction to Social Justice. It is so exciting to be in a class where we do more than just talk about the issues in our society; we get active.

Our class is working on reducing the stigmatization associated with talking about mental health while also striving to educate our campus and community about mental health resources available to them.  UAF offers multiple resources to our students: any student who pays the Health and Counseling fee (the majority of students) can receive up to 6 counseling sessions per semester. UAF Clinical-Community Psychology students do counseling sessions with students, and members of our community, as part of their education; additionally, the counseling program recruits volunteers for their program every semester as well.

We are also doing some awesome creative projects that are focused on removing stigmatization surrounding mental health issues. A group in our class is putting together a “Post-Secret” art exhibit. Post secret is an underground grassroots movement where people anonymously write a secret about themselves on a post card, decorate the card as they see fit, and send it to the people facilitating the art exhibit. The facilitators hang the postcards up in a room and open the exhibit to the public for viewing.  More information about UAF’s Post Secret can be found at www.facebook.com/uafpostsecret.

The group I am working in is called Let’s Talk. We are using social media to convey the message that is alright to talk about mental health issues. Our goal is to be humorous while still getting the message across. We plan on making You Tube videos and memes, and spreading them through different social media outlets. We are spreading our message through a Facebook group we created: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Talk/455556071176603. We also hope to reach the community through our local media outlets such as the news, talk radio, and local access television.  School has been in session for three weeks, and already, our class has been featured on the local news.

I think it is important  to get hands on experience doing something related to the field you are going into, or your major, while an undergraduate student. For the majority of my undergraduate career I have done this either through research or school clubs. As this is my final semester at UAF, it is awesome to be able to participate in something like Psychology in Action as part of my curriculum.   

Living on campus!

The perks of living on campus!

In my second year at UAF I chose to live off-campus, and while there are some positive aspects to living off-campus, I will definitely choose the residence halls next semester. With several different halls, UAF provides many options for students looking to stay on-campus. As a freshman I lived in Skarland hall, and had a great time. It was really convenient to live on-campus and be within a five-minute walk of the cafeteria, all of my classrooms and labs, the gym, and I was living in the same building as most of my friends. I got a great deal on my place off-campus, which is why I chose it, and even though it is only a five-minute (or less) drive to most buildings on-campus, it is still incredibly inconvenient to have to drive to and from campus.

 If you’re like me, you love your sleep in the morning, and getting up at 9:05 for a 9:15 class is completely possible if you live on-campus, but not if you have to drive to campus and find parking. Plus, if you really aren’t ready for the day, you can always go take a nap in your dorm room after that 9:15 class, without having to make an extra trip home and back to campus for any other classes you have that day!

Freshmen generally stay in either Moore or Skarland Hall, both located in the Moore-Bartlett-Skarland complex on upper campus. These halls are about a 2-minute walk from the natural sciences building, and 5-minute walk to the campus core where most other classrooms and labs are. They are also about 5-minutes walk from the cafeteria and student recreation center.

Upperclassmen have many more options including the lower campus Lathrop, Stevens, Nerland, and McIntosh halls, as well as Bartlett hall, located in the Moore-Bartlett-Skarland Complex on upper campus, and finally the Cutler apartments which are located on upper campus as well. Additionally, the Cutler apartments are the only popular (among undergraduate students) residences that do not require you to have a meal plan through the university. 

Student Jobs

I have a job!  I feel like I'm crowing this from the rooftops today, but what can I say- I'm pretty excited.  You're reading the blog of the new Student Assistant to the Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Research.  As a once again gainfully employed person (believe it or not, ducklings, I write this for fun, not money), I thought I'd share my experiences of job hunting at college- what to expect, where to look, and how to manage a job once you get one.

When I graduated high school, I had a grand vision of paying for school through a combination of scholarships and a full time job.  Instead, I learned a couple of very important lessons.  First, the average student job will cover the bill for tuition OR housing OR food OR a car OR entertainment- but probably not more than one or two of those, even if you live frugally.

Second, jobs are great time sucks.  Let's say you take the bare minimum in classes- 12 credits.  I never did- if you want to graduate in four years you should take at least 15.  But even on 12 credits, you have 12 hours of class time a week, plus around 36 hours of out of class work for challenging classes.  Include 8 hours a night for sleep and two hours for eating a day ends up being 70 hours a week.  With 40 hours for a full time job, you have about 10 hours of free time a week.  Every class after that drops it another four hours.  At some point, you have to start dropping food and sleep.  That impacts your grades, impacting scholarships and future employment.  Basically, anticipate the time demands, and don't rely on being able to take an unreasonable amount of hours to pay your bills.

Third, you won't always be able to get a job in your field right away- and even when you can, it might not be exactly what you were hoping for.  I'm an engineering student.  Most engineering jobs are pretty 9am-5pm.  Interestingly enough, so are most engineering classes.  Don't give up hope though- even if you have to look outside of your area of expertise, if you look, you can find somewhere that will offer experience to diversify your resume or offer a new skill set.  In my new job, for example, my new supervisor speaks German.  In addition to getting office and administrative experience, I can work on my fachvokabular (technical or professional vocabulary), granting my resume a little bit more of a sparkle for the future.  If you can't get a job right away, volunteer for a while.  A lot of the time, you can get experience in a field you couldn't get hired in by volunteering.

Alright, so you're dedicated.  You've decided that some financial security is worth the sacrifice of your free time, and you have some idea of the sort of skill you want to develop in a job.  Now, you wonder, where do you find these jobs?  There is no shortage of answers to this question.  I have friends who swear by the bulletin boards- UAF has many of them, and I have seen positions advertised both on and off campus there multiple times.  For on campus jobs, UAKjobs.com is definitely your best resource.  UAF Career Connect has some resources, especially for summer internships.  Several professional organizations and the Honors Program have list servs (email groups) that send out relevant job postings.  At some point in the last couple of years, I have gotten a position from all of these sources.  Career Services is also a great resource for reviewing resumes and cover letters once you've found a posting you wanted to apply for.

So now you've found that perfect job, and you're ready to get started.  The most important tool to managing your new job is a schedule.  Plan ahead!  You have less free time, so procrastination is more likely to result in an all nighter or not finishing an assignment.  You also have a much tighter schedule, and its easy to let classes slide.  Don't let it happen!  Schedule down time, too.  You might think you are saving time by only taking time for essentials- but it will cost you a lot more down the road when you have a break down mid semester from the work load.

UAF's a pretty great campus for jobs.  We have plenty of openings, and the placement rate after graduation is excellent.  By planning for a job before you begin, I'm hoping you miss some of the pit falls that tripped me up.  Good luck!

It's A New Semester...Do You Know Where YOUR Programs Are?

So we're back to the wonderful land of the Banks of Fair, and it's spring semester. The sun is shining, the grass is green, the flowers are blooming, there's a scent of rain and pollen in the air—oh wait.

Not only is it still winter, but psyche—winter has only begun. “Spring” semester opened with a lovely welcome of -50 degrees.

We love you too, Fairbanks. We love you too.

What does this have to do with living in the dorms, you may ask? After all, this is the “living in Res Life” segment, and all this talk of outside?

Well, lesson #1 of the New Year at UAF—if you live on campus, the cold means that you will be spending a lot of time inside. A LOT. Unless you're snapping a picture down at the sign at -40 degrees, or hurrying (and I do mean hurrying) to the Tilly for some sustenance, suddenly the warm, cozy dorm room seems so much more appealing. Suddenly, people prefer studying (and the semester's only just started!). Some people turn to the wonders of Netflix. Others refine their pool-playing skills in the lounges of MBS. Others still make pot after pot after pot of coffee and wander like ghosts. Some play video games, some nap a lot more, and several walk up two flights of stairs and count it as fulfilling their “gym” time for the day. Others eat more, and give up on the gym all together, some blessed souls read, and countless individuals scour the Internet and fulfill their need for happiness via the hub known as Youtube.

This phenomenon isn't laziness or cowardice. The plain truth is, when it hurts to breathe and eyelashes freeze shut and vehicles become comatose and simple strolls requires 15 minutes of prep work in putting on extra layers, inside just becomes the new sanctuary.

Fear not, my friends. Your Resident Assistants (RA's, for those more savvy with the campus lingo) have already begun stretching out for this new race of a semester, and we have you covered. We have the solution to your endless dark days, when the walls of the dorms start to feel more like the walls of a hamster cage. The solution?

Programs.

Programs are a wonderful and variable thing, both to participate and to create. Designed to be social and educational, programs begin to bloom in full force come the lonely winter days of January and February. Each RA hosts a minimum of two programs a month, and the creativity and gall of each one can reach great extents. While some are meant to be educational either about health, safety, sexual awareness, or alcohol awareness, all are also primarily a social union for residents to do something fun while they're cooped up in a building with hundreds of other students.

“I'm not a group scene kind of person,” you may say. “I'd rather just stay in my room and watch some movies or something. You know, relax.”

Well, looks like it's story-time. I had the same attitude as a freshman when it came to programs. As the shy girl from a small suburb in southern Alaska, I had no inclination at all to go play “Condom Bingo” with a bunch of strangers. The idea seemed strange and uncomfortable. I can't remember the exact moment I decided to relent—perhaps my extroverted roommate encouraged me to join her, or perhaps I really wanted to be part of the group and not be the same solitary person I had been in high school, and so against my better judgement, I attended my first program.

It wasn't a root beer pong tournament or anything of the sort—it was a relatively small program where a couple of the RA's in my building signed out a couple university vans, and offered to drive a group of students to the Comic Shop in town. Now, I have no particular invested interest in comics or comic book paraphernalia. However, my friend (who had told me about it in the first place) especially wanted to go, I hadn't yet been to the place, and it was a couple of hours I could get off campus. The worst thing that could happen was that I sit in the corner and read some selections off the shelf for a couple of hours. Oh, dear, the horror!

Now, don't get me wrong, the experience didn't create some wild epiphany or anything. But when you're in close quarters with a small group of strangers who live in the same space as you, something is bound to change. People started—gasp--talking to me. And I—GASP—talked back. A seemingly small feat, but for me, it was the start to making this the year I wanted it to be. I connected with the RA's a little more, especially good since they didn't live on my floor. I got off campus for the first time in ages, and as much as I love campus, sometimes a breather is good for a little adventure and perspective, as it gets much too easy to forget there's a world at the bottom of the hill of campus. I was exposed to a little bit of culture, and found that while I definitely am not the Comic Shop's main demographic, I can proudly say I have since visited the shop several times since with friends, and can always gravitate to things that will interest me.

After that program, other programs didn't seem so odd. Unique, certainly; creative, absolutely; strange, undoubtedly. Over the past two years, I've seen things as tame as Apples to Apples Pancake Night and hot chocolate sessions in the lounge, to things like Messy Twister, condom scavenger hunts, pillow fort building/destroying, sexual bingo, and extreme root-beer pong (don't ask, just check it out some time). I've learned that I live with some courageous, odd, and extremely funny people, and that it's okay to be a little brave, odd, and humorous with them.

So what's the take-home message here, kids? Don't be a bat in your dorm cave this next semester (unless you are indeed the Batman...in which case...why are we not friends? Seriously.) Come tip a toe in the water at the next program coming up—you may find it tolerable, or even—dare I say it—enjoy it thoroughly. You'll foster some new friendships with people. You'll learn your RA's name, or at least their face. You'll find that the Banks of Fair is still alive when the sun and the temperature doesn't rise—you just need to look in the right places. Come join a program, guys—you're all invited.  

What To Know About 40 Below

     One of the biggest questions I get from prospective students from outside of Alaska is this: “How cold is it up there and what should I do to prepare?” Allow me to write and shed a little light on the plight of the freezing white so that you might avoid frostbite.

     As America’s arctic university, UAF is home to extreme subzero temperatures. It can get as cold as -51 Celsius (-60 Fahrenheit). More commonly, it gets to around -40 degrees. Did you notice that I didn’t specify a temperature scale for -40 degrees? Before I go any further, I’m going to say that I am a fan of centigrade temperatures. Fortunately for you, -40 degrees Celsius is the same as -40 degrees Fahrenheit, thanks to the way the two temperature scales work out. Most people simply refer to this particular temperature as 40 below.

     When your thermometer reads -40 degrees, you should probably get a new thermometer. Most thermometers use mercury as their fluid indicator. Unfortunately, mercury freezes at about -38 degrees Celsius. Instead you might consider an alcohol thermometer, which won’t freeze until -128 Celsius, which you shouldn’t have to worry about. Are you starting to see how intense 40 below is?

     In order to prepare for this intense cold, there are a few things you should keep in mind. At 40 below, human skin can freeze almost instantly if exposed for too long. Minor cases of frostbite are common in Fairbanks. You’ll need warm clothing that covers most, if not all, of your skin. It doesn’t have to be fancy and expensive. Just about any sporting goods store will have appropriate clothing. You may even get lucky at a thrift shop and find some awesome alpaca duds. Speaking of that, you probably weren’t able to bring your family alpaca up with you, so you probably need a different mode of transportation.

     Before you bring a car up to Fairbanks, understand that you will need to put a good amount of money into it if you want it to survive the cold. If you’ve already brought your car up before reading this, don’t worry, most of the things required are one-time purchases.

     Most of the auto shops in Fairbanks offer general “winterization” packages that are designed to prepare your vehicle for the cold. If you are more of a do-it-yourself person (or are interested in what a “winterization” package contains), there are a few things you’ll need to purchase and install. Most motor oil and other vehicle fluids freeze at 40 below. The first thing you’ll want to do is get ALL of your fluids changed with appropriately temperature-rated fluids. You’ll also want to make sure that your tires are rated for extreme cold temperatures; tires will shatter into pieces while you are driving if they aren’t rated for the cold. Two of the most important things to get your car are a block (engine) and battery heater. You will plug these in (using an extension cord) when you are parked at one of the many outdoor electric outlets in Fairbanks (just about every public parking lot provides these outlets). While plugged in, the block and battery heaters will keep your engine and battery from freezing (thus keeping your car able to start). Another awesome (but not completely necessary) item to get is an auto-start system so that you can start your car remotely from the warm inside. There are a few good places in Fairbanks to get one installed (Auto Trim Design is one). Another option (if you have two keys for your car) is to run out, start the car with one key, lock it with the other and then run back inside. This decreases the chance of someone stealing your car while it is started with a key in it. Another thing to note is that you will be using more gas than normal to keep your car warm. Now that your car is prepared, you should be prepared as well.

     If you ever plan on doing driving trips to places like Anchorage or Wasilla or even Chena Hot Springs, you should have a small emergency kit in your car. It’s a good idea to be prepared in case icy roads get the best of you or someone else. Always try to keep some blankets, extra warm clothes, matches, candles, a first aid kit, a flashlight or two, a shovel, and some food and water in your car. While you CAN own a car and drive it in 40 below, it is generally a good idea to NOT drive when it is that cold unless you have to.

     If you don’t have a car or a friend with a car, don’t fret! Fairbanks is full of other transportation options. If you enjoy riding a bike, you may do so for short distance travel, but it is not a good idea to go very far unless you are EXTREMELY well clothed. If you have neither a car nor a bike, you can always take advantage of Fairbanks’ awesome public transportation. The UAF campus is home to a series of bus stops, a few of which are enclosed and heated. There are several bus routes that can take you to any part of campus, and a few city buses also stop at UAF and can take you to places outside of campus.

     Now that all of the serious stuff is out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about ENJOYING the extreme cold. The cold doesn’t have to be a daunting thing all the time. There are actually a lot of things that you can do in 40 below that you can’t do anywhere else.

     Forty below is the ultimate freezing point of water. While water normally freezes at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), there are still usually microscopic drops of water that won’t freeze until it gets much colder. Forty below is the point where this extra unfrozen water finally freezes. This is why there is no precipitation when it is that cold, because the water isn’t in a liquid state so that it can rain or even snow. Because of this cool fact, you can take a pot of boiling water and throw it outside and watch it freeze almost instantly and turn to an icy fog and float away. You can also blow bubbles and watch them freeze and catch them in your hand without them popping. Try leaving a banana or egg or watermelon outside for a while until it freezes and then hit it with a hammer. Put various things outside and watch how they react. It’s a lot of fun.

     The last and probably best (and craziest) thing to do in 40 below is to join the Forty Below Club, a club of elite and brave students who are willing to brave the cold and stand in front of the school’s giant temperature sign and have their picture taken while wearing nothing but their underwear. The Forty Below Club is one of UAF’s oldest traditions, and is a blast!

     The cold of 40 below is an integral part of the UAF experience, and although many people view it as a negative, it can be bearable and even exciting and fun with the right mindset. So go out, get some warm clothes, get (half) naked, and enjoy the cold!

College and Roommates

At some point in your college career, you will most likely be paired up with a roommate, either in your freshmen or later college years. Having someone as a roommate can be really exciting and new for students that grew up in families that did not make siblings share rooms, a very interesting experience. The selection process that Res Life, our housing and resources department, use to match students with others is fairly simplistic but mainly used as a tool to ensure a less possible chance of students conflicting as roommates.

Res Life’s criteria for their housing application is very straight-forward. It asks you three questions: Are you an early bird or night owl? Do you smoke? And lastly, are you tidy or messy? You can probably see why these questions are necessary, they ensure the chance of roommates getting along easily with similar attitudes. However, even with this extraordinarily open questionnaire, conflicts can still arise from the dorm room. However this is why this blog post is so valuable- dealing with a roommate is going to be different to many upcoming students. Your Resident Advisors would prefer the roommates to figure out situations themselves before getting involved if they have reached an impass, which in the real world makes sense because there are very few mediators out there besides the police, so this forces students to work on social skills of dealing with a roommate.

In my opinion, the best way to resolve roommate issues is to openly discuss problems. You and your roommate will never solve an issue if something bothers him/her and he/she does nothing but complain to her friends about the problem. Since there is no direct link from problem to user, the issue (no matter how much she complains to his/her friends) will never be resolved. It is imperative that these situations are discussed. Perhaps your roommate did something as simple as not wipe their shoes on the rug or outside carpet before coming in leaving nice icy water traps behind their footfalls. I have personally seen way too many roommate conflicts get out of hand because they refused to talk to each other to resolve a simple conflict at an earlier notice, than one big argument over everything that has ever happened.

I know the Res Life system isn’t perfect, and everyone is blessed with their own quirks in a way, just remember that being open and talking is better than bottling up emotions that could explode later.